Private Roy W. Cobb
Private Roy W. Cobb was a paratrooper in Easy Company, an original Toccoa soldier. History Early life ﻿Cobb was born on 18 June 1914 in Colorado and joined the U.S. Army in 1933. WWII Cobb participated in Operation Torch with the 1st Armored Division in Africa on 8 November 1942. After the battle ended on 16 November, he was returning to the States when his troopship was sunk by a torpedo. He survived and made it back to the States. Cobb decided to join the Paratroopers and was assigned to Easy Company of the 506th Regiment, where he endured Captain Herbert Sobel's harsh leadership. After earning his jumpwings at Fort Benning in 1943, he and the regiment headed to Camp Mackall, North Carolina for tactical training. In September of that year, Cobb and his battalion sailed to England to train and prepare for invasion. On 6 June 1944, Cobb embarked on the Invasion of Normandy; however, before he could jump, he was wounded by shrapnel after switching seats with Sgt. Luz (who was paranoid about getting hit in the plane) and missed the jump. He rejoined Easy Company after their return from Normandy. Cobb was later part of Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944 at Holland. At the town of Nuenen, they were attacked by a German tank assault. While firing his submachine gun, a tank shell blew up the brick wall he was firing over, covering him with debris and nearly killing him. Later that night, Cobb participated in a rescue squad to locate Sergeant Randleman, who was Missing in Action and presumed dead. On 5 October, he helped take out two German SS Companies at "The Island". Easy Company left Holland on 26 November and ended up in reserve at Mourmelon-le-Grand in France. On 17 December, Cobb fought at The Battle of The Bulge (Bastogne) in The Ardennes Forest in Belgium. When Easy Company later attacked the town of Foy, Cobb was part of the main assault. Afterwards, Cobb and the Regiment occupied Hagenau. He was assigned to a patrol detail at the town on 15 February 1945, but his boat capsized, and he and the other men on the boat (Wayne Sisk and Antonio Garcia) were held back. The detail eventually brought back two German prisoners, with one left severely wounded on the other side. The men decided to kill the wounded German, but all missed with their grenades. Cobb, unable to stand the soldier's moans, pitched a grenade that killed the German . That same evening, Cobb, after drinking schnapps to intoxication, was arrested after assaulting Lt. Foley (the movie depicted Cobb as, instead, verbally assaulting Sgt. Martin). During processing for a court-martial, a frustrated Colonel Sink told Foley "You could have saved us all a lot of trouble. You should have shot him". Cobb was court-martialed, eventually discharged from the Army and returned to the States. Cobb was not discharged immediately after the incident, but instead was allowed to remain with his unit until after V-E Day. The image of Cobb below was extracted from an Easy Company cadre picture taken in Zell-am-See, Austria shortly after Germany surrendered. Later Life After the war, Cobb moved to Niagara, New York and lived out most of his life there, until his death in January of 1991. Personality ﻿One of the controversies in Band of Brothers lies within Cobb being described as being "invariably good-natured" in Private Webster's book, while, in the series, Cobb is portrayed as being abrasive and bitter. Category:Characters Category:Paratroopers/Soldiers Category:Deceased